The disclosure relates generally to high temperature semiconductor devices, and more specifically, to semiconductor devices for transient voltage suppression integrated with wiring components.
Lightning strikes or other sources of transient voltage that may be induced onto electrical wires or components tend to damage equipment, often times rendering the equipment inoperable. Electronic means of blocking electrical voltage spikes caused by the lightning or transient voltage are often used to mitigate the effects of the voltage spikes. Other means shunt the spike energy to ground, permitting the spike energy to bypass the potentially affected equipment. Lightning strikes protection is important in systems such as airframe, aircraft engines, unmanned vehicles, wind turbines, power generation and power distribution and transmission. However, such electronic components used to block or shunt the voltage spikes are relatively large, which takes up valuable space on circuit boards and in enclosures on, for example, an aircraft or in an aircraft engine controller, such as, but not limited to, a full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC). The relatively large components also represent an undesirable amount of weight that must be carried by the aircraft. Moreover, the semiconductor material, typically, a form of silicon, used to fabricate the transient voltage suppression devices are limited to relatively cool ambient environments, where their leakage currents are low, for example, locations with an ambient temperature less then approximately 125° C. At least some known TVS systems attempt to provide protection from electrical voltage spikes caused by the lightning or transient voltage using components mounted at a centralized computing or control system for equipment being protected. One example of a central computing or control system is a full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC) used with some aircraft engines. The FADEC typically are located on the fan of the engine. However, there is a growing drive to distribute electronics or control systems closer to the actuators and sensors that they control. These locations where voltage suppression capabilities are needed, are also relatively hot locations near the equipment being protected, for example, locations with ambient temperatures in a range that exceeds 125° C. ambient up to approximately 300° C. or more. Moreover, voltage spikes on the system remotely from the centralized computing or control system must travel relatively long distances before being sensed and mitigated at the TVS components at the centralized computing or control system.